Syfy TV series to be added to lineage of questionable Beowulf interpretations

Having recently shown great interest in revisiting the classics, Syfy has announced that it will next develop a series based on Beowulf, thus giving the epic poem its most astute interpretation since your eighth-grade term paper. 1408 screenwriter Matthew Greenberg, whose own experience with reviving the cultural canon includes penning Halloween H20, will tackle the tale of the Scandinavian warrior who faces off against the monster Grendel, with the series reportedly focusing more on Beowulf’s “rise to power” and what is hilariously described as “his feud” with Grendel—a feud prompted by their differing opinion over whether the monster should do horrible monster things. (Beowulf is firmly agin' it.) Syfy has actually adapted Beowulf before, as the 2007 movie Grendel, a predictably low-budget answer to Robert Zemeckis’ motion-captured Beowulf from that same year. However, this new series isn’t expected to have any relationship to that movie—or, for that matter, to Beowulf especially. In keeping with most Syfy programming, it's assumed its protagonist will also be part wolf.